Wheeler wins 5th straight start, Mets beat Marlins 6-2

MIAMI (AP) - Once again, Zack Wheeler looked right at home at Marlins Park.

Wheeler won his fifth straight start overall, pitching seven solid innings and sending the New York Mets over the Miami Marlins 6-2 on Friday night.

He is 3-0 with a 1.55 ERA in six career starts in Miami.

"I don't think it's anything in particular, maybe just pitching inside," Wheeler said. "I don't know. It's nothing in particular, but I have good numbers here and hopefully can keep it rolling."

Wheeler (7-6) allowed four hits and two runs. He struck out eight and walked just one for the fourth consecutive outing.

"He kind of goes after them like he knows his stuff is better than them and he's going to make them beat him," Mets manager Mickey Callaway said.

Wheeler's scoreless-inning streak ended at 23 when he gave up a two-run homer to Miguel Rojas with two outs in the seventh, making it 4-2.

"I don't think that was my best, but the results were there," Wheeler said. "I just made that mistake to Rojas. I'm pretty sure he was sitting on it so I'll take that and put it in the memory bank and just go from there."

Marlins manager Don Mattingly had a different perspective.

"He looked pretty good," Mattingly said. "His stuff was really good. I haven't seen him pitch that much. This is the best I've ever seen him. He was on the attack tonight."

New York's Amed Rosario had three hits and drove in two runs to set the tone from the leadoff spot.

"He was really good," Callaway said. "I thought he stayed on the ball really well. He kept his hands inside the ball really well and hit the ball up the middle, stayed up on top of it. He was really good. I thought his swing was short and quick, and I like to continue using him in that leadoff spot. I think it's good for him."

Kevin Plawecki knocked in two and Austin Jackson had three hits for the Mets, who have won three of four.

Jose Urena (3-12) gave up four runs in 5 1/3 innings as the Marlins lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

The Marlins have only scored more than three runs once during that span.

"We have to go out and find a way to score some runs," Rojas said. "It's going to be on us to produce runs and try to create opportunities to score runs because we haven't done that in a while."

Miami's Derek Dietrich played first base and batted cleanup, spots generally reserved for Justin Bour, who was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies before the game.

Michael Conforto hit an RBI single in the third. The Mets opened up the game with three runs in the sixth, with Rosario having a two-run single.

Plawecki added a two-run single in the eighth.

BOUR EFFECT

Mattingly hopes the trade of Bour, who played five seasons with the Marlins and hit 83 home runs, did not affect the team.

"I don't want to sound badly, but if that's what fuels you, you're not motivated to play as a young player and show what you can do on a daily basis, that takes your mental side away," Mattingly said. "If you're going to let a trade deadline keep you from getting ready, something's wrong."

THREE MORE HITS

Jackson tied a season-high in hits for the third time over his last four games and has at least one RBI in five straight starts.

Mets: RHP Corey Oswalt (1-2, 5.13 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the second game of the series on Saturday. Oswalt allowed six runs in 2 2/3 innings in his only appearance against the Marlins on June 29.

Marlins: RHP Dan Straily (4-5, 4.35) will make his third start of the season against the Mets. He is 0-1 with a 2.77 ERA against the Mets this year.

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